#atozchallenge - Swimmers

No, I’m not talking about the Olympics here. I mean one half of a very important combination when you’re wanting to make a baby. I realise that the correct word here is sperm, and I’m perfectly aware that it starts with the same letter, but I always think of them as ‘little swimmers’ and this is my blog, so there you go!

When you’re struggling to have a baby there are four possible outcomes to the tests: there’s actually nothing wrong, there’s something wrong with the woman, there’s something wrong with the man, or there’s something wrong with both of them. We’re lucky in that we fall into the second category; not getting pregnant is all my fault, so Mr Click’s swimmers are off the hook. Men kind of get the easy end of the stick when it comes to their tests. To establish who was the cause of the problem I’ve had no less than three blood tests plus surgery to figure out what was going on with my body. Men on the other hand get to go into a little room by themselves for ten minutes, picture Zooey Deschanel, and enjoy themselves.

I realise that this is just as hard on (no pun intended) the men as the women, although it maybe doesn’t quite seem like that at first blush. I’ve got plenty of online friends going through exactly the same things I am, but their husbands have been very reluctant to produce their ‘sample’. I can kind of see where they are coming from there; imagine being told that your little guys are no good. And they can be no good in any number of ways; they might be swimming in the wrong direction, or too slow, or be a funny shape, or just not be a great quantity, there might not be any there at all!

Men might only have one big test to do in this whole infertility game, but I think it puts just as much pressure on them as on the women. I suppose I can see it from both sides; the frustration of the women who need their partners to go and get intimate with a cup, but also the fear of the guys that there might be something wrong and that it might somehow emasculate them.

I know I’m very lucky that Mr Click felt like this was something we were both in together and has taken it all in his stride. It’s something we’re able to laugh about too which is probably important; I suppose that’s why I call them little swimmers.